A COVID Prayer

Everyone is talking about the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, but even without it in Connecticut (as far as we know), our rates have been rising precipitously in the past few weeks. I’m anticipating worsening COVID conditions as the post-Thanksgiving infections hit and continue to spread throughout the winter holidays.

That means we’ll need to keep wearing our masks for at least a little while longer, so I thought I’d share this prayer. I found it on Facebook in 2020, and it’s a prayer to say when you’re putting on a mask. It’s written by the Rev. Richard Bott, Moderator, Presbyterian Church of Canada.

Maybe you’ll read this aloud next time you put on your mask to go into work, or the grocery store, or school:

Creator God, as I prepare to go into the world, help me to see the sacramental nature of wearing this cloth. Let it be a tangible and visible way of living love for my neighbors, as I love myself.

Christ Jesus, since my lips will be covered, uncover my heart, that people would see my smiles in the crinkles around my eyes. Since my voice may be muffled, help me to speak clearly, not only with my words, but with my actions.

Holy Spirit, as the elastic touches my ears, remind me to listen carefully and caringly to all those I meet. May this simple piece of cloth be shield and banner, and may each breath that it holds be filled with Your love. In Your name and in that love, I pray. Amen.

An Advent Community of Prayer

Welcome to Advent! Advent is a season of waiting and preparation. For the past several years, Forward Movement has cultivated a global #AdventWord calendar to create an international community of prayer online.

Each day has one word on which we will all center our prayers. This is one way to give shape to your prayer life in Advent.

The Episcopal Church in Connecticut is following along, and you're invited to participate there. Check out the ECCT Facebook page for each day’s word and reflection, then share your own comment in response.

And here are other ways to participate on a more global scale.

I hope you’ll find #AdventWord helpful. I plan to participate on Twitter as a special way to focus my prayers in this important season!

Chapter, Verse, and Season

Here’s something I’m pretty sure you don’t know about me yet: I have a podcast* coming out tomorrow, Monday, November 22.

It's a podcast I'm producing under the auspices of Yale Bible Study. Every Monday, two professors from Yale Divinity School (where I earned my MDiv and am still a student) talk for about 10 minutes about one of the lectionary readings from the coming Sunday. It’s based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the schedule we follow for our Sunday Scripture readings.

I’m the host, and I’m also one of the producers of the podcast: recording and editing it, as well as setting up the professors with each other and with their texts. We’ve been working on this project for about 2.5 years, so I’m extremely excited for the world to finally hear these episodes!

The hope is that preachers will use this as part of their sermon preparation (looking at you, lay preaching crew!) and that it will be helpful for anyone following the lectionary—which includes every regular attender of Episcopal Churches.

The podcast is called Chapter, Verse, and Season.

At that link, you can read more, subscribe, or listen to the trailer of our first season and episodes when they come out. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts: Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and more on the way.

Thank you for indulging me this opportunity to share something I'm working on. And if you do listen, please let me know! I’d love to know what you think.

*In case you’re not familiar: podcasts are a type of internet media, with new episodes that come out regularly on a given topic. They tend to be audio-only (though some have a video component). Think of them like radio shows, which you can download on your phone and listen to whenever you want. Most of the popular national radio shows like This American Life are also available to download as podcasts.